“The thought occurs that in each of the Age of Television's three great contests over the Con­stitution, the rogues' gallery has never really changed. Those are proud and pa­triotic Republicans sitting over there.”

In 1976, the culture critic asked, “What is it that Americans share?”

A leviathan of corruption too big for a single fall guy

“The rumor had Nixon plotting to use election-eve violence as an excuse for massive repression of students and blacks, mass ar­rests, and suspension of Constitu­tional guarantees to keep the dis­senters behind bars... The rumor was really saying that a Reichstag fire was in the works.”

“We have been in danger of remembering Nixon as just another crooked office-seeker in the long gray line. He was, however, the first American president who ever harbored despotic ambition”

"Political parties, unions, churches, and personalities, will mean less and less in the future. Guerrilla politics with its emphasis on movement and its commitment to issues, is the best antidote to the banality of Nixon”

On Nixon and the Republican record, Kennedy said: “I don't think a man who has had 40 accidents should be given a new driver's license.”

“One could use that 18 1/2-minute buzz on the June 20 babble session with Hank Haldeman as a sound track for a Kenneth Anger movie which would be titled 'Nixon Sinking.' ”

“The arrogance of the Nixon administration has been so successful at angering the government’s most conservative and loyal workers that it just might provoke more desperate acts”

"Why the recent alliance between Nixon and the workers? lt is a wedding of his pomposity and, sadly, their circumstances. The key word is 'majority.' If you came out of a working-class family, you always wanted to belong."